5 Tips on How to Promote a Business Book

by Corinne Liccketto

Write about what you know: If you’re thinking about writing a business book, the topic should definitely be relevant to your area of expertise! Writing about what you know establishes your credibility and grounds your expertise into the content of the book. This will allow you to use your book as your business card, too, which essentially means you can build your brand in your industry and allow your book to reinforce your message.

Start promoting to your niche business market first: Have you written a finance book? Start by promoting your book to finance media. Is your book a ‘how to’ for small businesses? Begin by pitch your book to small business interest media. The key to publicity is to build awareness in your niche market before you target mainstream media. By contacting media specific to your business genre, you’ll establish recognition among the groups that matter most. Once the ‘buzz’ sets in, then you can test out the waters in the mainstream business market.

Author by line articles: Stemming back to ‘write what you know’, your by line articles should be extension of your expertise and your book. Each main point in your book can be a topic for a byline article. Another idea source for by line articles comes from tracking industry news. Writing and pitching by line articles that tie in to current business events will help brand you as the ‘expert’ in your field and will keep your book timely since publicity for you will encourage publicity for your title. If you’re ever struggling to think of article topics, go back to your Table of Contents and extract the main idea of each chapter. Sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to get a fresh start!

Monitor the news: By tracking industry news trends, you’ll be able to respond more quickly to ongoing business developments. With news – and with business – it’s important to have the edge and staying on top of ongoing trends will allow you to position yourself for interview and commentary opportunities before your peers.

Set up Google Alerts for key phrases in your industry. You’ll be quickly notified of breaking news and can pitch your media contacts to offer insight into appropriate issues and trends.

Set up speaking engagements: There are a few business-oriented groups that provide business men and women with great places to network and grow their brand.

o Register your company with your local Better Business Bureau: An organization founded on “advancing marketplace trust,” your local BBB will introduce you to other organizations within your industry. You may contact these organizations and offer to hold a presentation about a topic in your book. *Don’t plug your book during the presentation but do let your audience know that they can learn more about the topic in your book before you close. For information about your local BBB, visit: http://www.bbb.org/.

o Join the National Speakers Association: Membership to the National Speakers Association (NSA) allows you to expand your client list service and reach a wider audience through your message all while generating awareness about your book. Their annual convention is a great place to network! Believe us, we’ve been there. For more information about NSA, visit: http://www.nsaspeaker.org/.

o Now that you’re starting to present, make sure your speaking practices are top notch with Toastmasters International: This “is a non-profit organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.” For more information about Toastmasters, visit: http://www.toastmasters.org/.

Bottom line: The business book market is ever-growing and highly competitive. To stay on top, you must know your product, flex your expertise muscles, and keep your book relevant.